Verge plate



A. J. COBERT 2,787,146

April 2, 1957 VERGE PLATE Filed July '7, 1955 INVENTOR. ARTHUR J. COBERT WW ATTORNEY.

VERGE PLATE Arthur J. Cobert, Chattanooga, Tenn., assignor to Beautiful Bryans, Incorporated, Chattanooga, Tenn., a corporation of Tennessee Application July 7, 1955, Serial No. 520,565

4 Claims. (Cl. 66-110) The present invention relates to a verge plate for a flat full-fashioned type knitting machine having individually movable yarn measuring sinkers.

In full-fashioned knitting machines of the general type referred to, the yarn leading from the reciprocating carriers is sunk about the shanks of successive needles by sinkers advanced successively in a knitting wave by means of a slur cock cam which drives each successive sinker forwardly to an exactly predetermined position in which the sinker butt strikes against the impact edge of a verge plate. It is of great importance that the advance of the sinkers be accurately controlled since even the slightest variation in the advance position of the sinker will produce visible variations or imperfections in the appearance of the knitted stocking.

With the development of the modern fine gauge high speed machine this problem of sinker control has been greatly intensified due to the fact that the sinkers are of thinner material, and are driven harder and with increased impact against the verge plate, which tends to produce breakage of sinker butts, excessive rebound, and increased wear generally on the mechanism.

The present invention is intended as an improvement upon the construction shown in my prior Patent No. 2,710,528, dated June 14, 1955, for Verge Plate which discloses one form of a verge plate in which the impact edge consists of a strip of hardened steel mounted on a body portion of more resilient material adapted to cushion the impact of successive sinkers against the verge plate.

It is a principal object of the invention to provide an improved Verge plate of the general type having an impact edge of hardened metal mounted on a cushioning base of softer, more resilient material, which will be of more rigid construction, free from any tendency to warping or other distortion to insure the accurate location of the impact edge, and which will at the same time have improved impact deadening qualities suitable for controlling the advance of the sinkers under conditions of high speed operation.

The foregoing and other objects, features and advantages of this invention will be apparent from the following description and from the accompanying drawing of a preferred embodiment, it being understood that the detailed description and drawing are merely illustrative of the invention, which is defined in the claims.

In the drawing:

Fig. 1 is a diagrammatic view of a verge plate through the sinker head and jack head portion of a full-fashioned knitting machine having one form of my improved verge plate applied thereto;

Fig. 2 is a plan view of a verge plate in accordance with my invention; and

Fig. 3 is a cross-sectional view taken on a line 3-3 of Fig. 2.

The improved verge plate which forms the subject matter of the present invention consists of a metallic base member which may be of brass or aluminum, a lonnited States Patent-O ice gitudinally extending strike'receiving strip of hard metal 12 such as hardened steel, and a separating member 14 of resilient material which may, for example, be neoprene rubber. The brass member 10 is a rigidly formed plate'which extends along the length of the knitting section and is bent downwardly and recessed along the rear edge thereof to receive a rubber insert 14. The rubber insert 14 is cemented into'therecessed edge of the base member 10 and has cemented thereto the impact receiving metal strip 12.

The parts above described are so arranged that the shock of the sinkers hitting against the hardened metal strip 12 is taken up by the neoprene rubber backing member which is in turn supported against the rigid backing surface of the base member 10.

The base member 10 is provided with a plurality of slightly elongated bolt holes 16 for the reception of bolts 18 by means of which it can be adjustably fastened in place on a sinker cover 20 of the machine.

The sinker cover 20, as best shown in Fig. l, is grooved and forms with a grooved sinker bed 22 a plurality of channels in which sinkers 24 and alternating dividers, not shown, are slidably supported. Each sinker is provided with a reinforcing butt 26 having a striker surface 28 at its forward portion. The sinkers are advanced in a knitting wave by means of a slur cock cam 30 mounted on a reciprocating slur cock bar 32 for engagement with sinker jacks 34 which are arranged at their lower ends to turn about a pivot shaft 36, and at their upper ends engage against the rearward faces of the respective sinker butts 26. When each sinker 24 is thrown forward in the sinker head by the movement imparted to the jack 34 by the slur cock 30, the surface 28 of its butt 26 strikes against the striking edge, or impact surface, provided by the hardened steel strip 12 which arrests the forward movement of the sinker.

As previously noted, the strip 12 is a longitudinally extending strip or insert of hard steel such as high carbon or alloy steel which is preferably tempered to approximately the same degree of hardness as the sinker butts 26.

The sinker strike receiving strip 12 takes the original shock of the striking of the sinker butts 26 against it and transfers the shock to the soft highly resilient neoprene rubber insert 14 which cushions and dampens the vibrations set up by the sinker impacts. This insert also tends to cushion the shock against the rigidly mounted base member 10 which is for this reason less likely to be jarred out of position, with resulting inaccuracies in the size of the knitted loops.

The arrangement of the impact receiving metal strip 12, the relatively small, soft and highly resilient rubber separating member 14, and the metallic base member 10 herein illustrated has been found to have substantial advantages over any prior art construction known in that it provides an extremely rigid construction which has no tendency toward warping or toward misalignment as a result of the repeated blows of the advancing sinkers, while at the same time a cushioning effect is produced through the use of the interposed rubber insert 14.

The invention having been described what is claimed is:

1. A verge plate for a flat full-fashioned knitting machine having individually movable yarn measuring sinkers, comprising, a metallic base member, a longitudinally extending strike receiving strip of hard metal, and a separating element of highly resilient material interposed between and cemented respectively to said base member and said strike receiving strip of hard metal.

2. A verge plate for a flat full-fashioned knitting machine having individually movable yarn measuring sink ers, comprising, a metallic base member, a rubber separating member fastened to said base member, and a longi- Fatented Apr. 2, 1957 the sinker abnttingedge of said verge plate cemented to.

said separating member.

4. A verge plate for a. fiat. full-fashioned knitting machine having individually movable yarn measuring sinkers, comprising a metallic base member, a strip of hard metal providing an impact edge, and a separating member of resilient material secured respectively to the base member and to said strip and providing a cushion between said impact edge andsaid base member.

References Cited in the file of this patent UNITED STATES PATENTS 2,474,627 Howie June 28 1949 

